Irish student highlights Israeli demolition policy

national | miscellaneous | news report Tuesday August 06, 2002 18:01 by MG

An Irish student has moved into a Palestinian home in the West Bank in an effort to prevent the Israeli army from demolishing the building, which houses three families. Israel has marked the house for destruction because a member of one of the families was involved in a Hamas suicide bombing several weeks ago. The other family members were arrested after the bombing, but were released because they were obviously not involved in the attack.

The demolition is part of a controversial Israeli policy designed to punish relatives for the actions of Palestinian militants.

Colm Breathnach, a student from Trinity College in Dublin and a member of the International Solidarity Movement, said his presence in the house in the Al-Farrah refugee camp near Nablus could act as a deterrent to the Israeli army.

“It gives some hope to the local Palestinian people who are, by and large, on the edge of despair in relation to the situation here,” he said.

Mr Breathnach said the family in question took a case to the Israeli High Court this morning, but the court ruled that the Israeli army has the right to demolish buildings without informing the residents in advance.

He described the planned action as “collective punishment”, a practice banned by Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. This article states that: “No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed . . . Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited.”

Mr Breathnach said between 50 and 70 people may have to be evacuated from their homes during the Israeli demolition operation because the buildings in Al-Farrah were constructed close together. He said the usual Israeli tactic is to enter the camp under cover of darkness, clear the building of people and demolish it with dynamite.

The Dublin student said he is staying in the house along with three US citizens, who are also members of the International Solidarity Movement, and said he is pretty sure that the Israeli army is aware of their presence in the camp.

Mr Breathnach also witnessed Israeli military operations in Nablus over the weekend. “Israeli tanks constantly circled the main roads and there were regular explosions,” he said. “Most shops were broken into or looted. Anytime that people came out of their homes, Israeli soldiers would fire at them.

“In the Old City, Israeli soldiers conducted house to house searches, randomly arresting large groups of men. The Israeli soldiers also occupied homes, held families hostage and used them as human shields. We visited three occupied homes and the Israeli soldiers wouldn’t let us give food to the families or talk to them.

“One of those cases involved an elderly woman. The soldier we spoke to thought it was very funny that she was cooking for them, but would not even let us see her.”